Hello? Paging a client.

I just e-mailed you the project you hired me to write. I even managed to finish it a few days before the deadline we set.

A day goes by, and I don't hear from you. Sure, you're probably too busy to sit down and read all the copy just now, even if you said you were desperate to get it. But couldn't you at least send me a quick "Got it, thanks" message? Because when I don't hear from you, I think, uh-oh.

As in, uh-oh, my e-mail got snagged by your ever-vigilant spam detector. Or as in, uh-oh, you're out sick or taking a vacation, and by the time you get back my e-mail will be buried under bushels of Very Important Messages from Colleagues.

So now I feel I must call you to follow up, even if you are one of those people who always lets the phone ring to voicemail unless your boss is on the line. Maybe you are one of those people who don't even listen to your voicemail. (Why do people have voicemail if they don't listen to it? Surely there's a Zen koan in there somewhere.)

Admittedly, there is more to this than the simple reassurance that my words are reaching your eyes. I've enclosed my initial invoice along with your copy, and I'm naturally keen to know that this little document is on its way to Accounts Payable.*

In larger terms, client communication is the glue that can hold a project together over the weeks and months it takes to obtain sign-offs, do user testing or deal with Legal.

Yes, yes, everyone's busy. But if a project is worth doing in the first place, it's worth putting on your calendar for regular base-touching by e-mail or conference call. Have an agenda, move briskly through it, clarify current impediments and (if necessary) reconfigure the deadlines. Keep us informed, and you keep us on your side.

----------

*If you've only ever had the sort of position that comes with a paycheck at regular intervals, the concept of Waiting for Payment from Clients to Pay Your Bills might seem rather alien. I once had to explain to a foot-dragging nonprofit client that the check I hadn't received was not some sort of fun extra for me but (embarrassing to have to be so dramatic) "the money I live on."